700 MELANTHACE^. 



calls it perniciosuTYi Colchicuni ; aud Lyte in his translation of this 

 author (1578) says — " Medow or Wilde Saffron is corrupt and venemous, 

 therefore not used in medicine." Gerarde declares the roots of " Mede 

 Saffron" to be " very hurtfull to the stomacke." 



Wedel published in 1718, at Jena, an essay De Colchico veneno et 

 alexipharmaco, in which, to show the great disfavour in which this 

 plant had been held, he remarks, — " hactenus . . . velut infame 

 habitum et damnatum fait colchicum, indignum habitum inter herbas 

 medicas vel officinales . . ." He further states that, in the 17th 

 century, the corms were worn by the peasants in some parts of Ger- 

 many as a charm against the plague. 



In the face of these severe denunciations, it is strange to find that 

 in the London Pharmacopoeia of 1618 (the second edition), "Radix 

 Colchici," as well as Hermodactylus, is enumerated among the simple 

 drugs ; and again in the editions of 1627, 1632 and 1639. It is omitted 

 in that of 1650, and does not reappear in subsequent editions until 

 1788, when owing to the investigations of Storck (1763), Kratochwill 

 (1764), De Berge (1765) Ehrmann (1772), and others, the possibility of 

 employing it usefully in medicine had been made evident. 



Development of the Corm^ — At the period of flowering, the 

 corm is surrounded with a brown, closed double membrane or tunic, 

 which is prolonged upwards into a sheath around the flowering-stem ; 

 at the base of the corm is a tuft of simple roots. On removing the 

 membranes, we find a large, ovoid, fleshy body (Corm No. 1), marked at 

 its apex by a depressed scar, the point of attachment of the flower-stem 

 of the previous year ; it is on one side flattened, and traversed by a 

 shallow longitudinal furrow, from the upper part of which arises a much 

 smaller and rudimentary corm (No. 2), bearing a flower-stem. After 

 the production of the flower in the autumn, Corm No. 2 increases in 

 size, throwing up as spring advances its fruit-stem and leaves, and 

 acquires, after these latter have come to maturity, its full development. 

 Corm No. 1 on the other hand, having performed its functions, shrivels 

 and diminishes in size, in proportion as No. 2 advances to maturity, 

 and ultimately decays, leaving a rounded cicatrix, showing its point of 

 attachment to its successor. 



Collection — In England the corms are usually dug up and brought 

 to market in July, at the period between the decay of the foliage and 

 the production of the flower, or even after the latter has appeared. For 

 some preparations, they are used in the fresh state. If to be dried, it is 

 customary to slice them across thinly and evenly with a knife, and to 

 dry the slices quickly in a stove with a gentle heat ; the membranes 

 are afterwards removed by sifting or winnowing. 



Schroff" has stated, as the result of his experiments,^ that the corms 

 possess the greatest medicinal activity when collected in the autumn 

 during or after inflorescence ; that they ought to be dried entire, by 

 exposure to the sun and air ; and that if thus preserved, they lose none 

 of their strength, even if kept for several years. 



^ The term corm is applied by English Colchicum is regarded either as a form of 



writers to the short, fleshy, bulb-shaped tuber, or of bulb. 



base of an annual stem, either lateral as in ^ Oesterreichinche Zeitschrift filr praktiache 



Colchicum, or terminal as in Crocns. By Heilkunde, 1856, Nos. 22-24 ; also Wiggers, 



many continental botanists, the corm of Ja/iresbericht der Pharm. 1856. 15. 



